The fight raged on along with the storm itself. It was a wonder that the waves hitting the galley didn’t sink it, but even without that the situation there was bad enough. The pirates were slowly overpowering the sailors and Sevrian, along with his disciples, had too much work to spread his attention everywhere. And Hildos and his first mate hadn’t even joined the fight yet!

Ehrir cussed silently and used his dagger to fend off another pirate. There wasn’t elegance or skill in his movements, but he still hadn’t died, after all, so it was good enough. He had killed quite a few enemies so far, mainly with Changing. He managed to take down only two of the mates, though – those were tough and he could properly attack them only when they weren’t expecting it. And such a chance rarely popped up.

Nalia was very successful at thinning out the number of mates on the deck and she had already taken out most of them. Ehrir was guarding her from the ordinary pirates. It wasn’t hard, especially when the old man was near him. Well, he wasn’t there at all times – Sevrian jumped from one end of the ship to the other with superhuman might and wreaked havoc amongst the pirates’ ranks. It was mesmerizing to watch this unexpected surge of power – not just magical but also physical – that Sevrian displayed. It was unnatural and exactly this made it so enthralling.

Varhel was still flying around and was desperately trying to do some damage to the enemies’ ship. He was rather unsuccessful, as Hildos’ first mate was able to block most of the attack with ease. From time to time the young man flew to the galley and devastated the pirates. His attacks were powerful, but too uncontrolled and a large amount of them could damage the ship beyond repair. In this situation he couldn’t go all out in terms of might.

Although Ehrir couldn’t focus his attention on the overall direction of the battle, he could see that it was getting to a dead end without either of the sides winning. That was a rather unpleasant thought, mainly because the best fighters amongst the enemies still hadn’t made their move. But he didn’t really have the time to worry about that. Another pirate attacked him and received a cut in the arm before Ehrir rushed at him and grabbed his wrists. Soon the man fell down with bones changed into glass. The sound they made when shattered wasn’t among the nicest.

The Undone One looked down at his clothes. They were torn and soaked in blood. Most of it wasn’t his, but he a few wounds on his torso. They were slowing him down, but he tried to ignore them. A few new scars on his body wouldn’t be a pleasant sight, but he could live just fine with them.

While this thoughts were crossing his minds, he heard a loud bang from his left.

“Well, it was about time I joined in, wasn’t it?” A raspy voice powered by magic filled the air. But it didn’t belong to Hildos nor Sevrian. That narrowed the options to one. It had to be Remto – the first mate among the pirates.

Ehrir swore as a loud boom shook the whole ship. The Undone One took the chance to look at the left. The battle was waged at no more than just fifteen feet from him, on the deck straight next to the deckhouse. The old man and the first mate were exchanging powerful blows with fists engulfed by strange spheres of light. Every hit was met with another one and their power made the galley’s handrails crack. In this direct fist fight Remto had the edge as he was quicker and younger. But the old man wasn’t nowhere near bad either. His movements were slow and not as coordinated as these of his opponent, but the sheer might of his blows compensated for that.

“You wouldn’t think that I’ll stand behind forever and let my men do the dirty work, would you?” Just as the battle between Sevrian and Remto neared its culmination a familiar voice sounded. Ehrir felt a cold shiver down his spine. Hildos had arrived.

The enemies’ captain got on the galley with a graceful jump and as he landed three rays of lightning came out of his left hand and took down several sailors. It happened in a split second. His destructive powers were really something else.

“Remto, get out of my way. Also, do me a favor and slaughter this bastard’s apprentices!” Hildos shouted as he ran towards Sevrian. The old man welcomed the flames surging out of his hands with a quickly created shield. It instantly shattered when the captain’s magic. The fact that Hildos could destroy Sevrian’s defenses with a single hit was terrifying. But Ehrir had no chance to worry for the old man as the first mate got within his vicinity with one enormous jump.

As he walked towards Ehrir and Nalia, Remto’s skin covered with a thin layer of some shining substance of an unknown kind. It made him look colorless and otherworldly.

“So I have to deal with ya’ two, eh? Heh… It won’t be much of a struggle.” An unnatural grin hanged on his pale face. His reddened eyes’ gaze felt cold and distanced.

Ehrir felt fear before the might of this man, but didn’t back up. Behind his back stood Nalia and she actually had a chance to win against him. He had to defend her as best as possible.

The Undone One took a defensive stance and quickly touched the deck beneath his feet. A thought was enough to form a long wooden pike out of the planks. It probably wouldn’t help him much, but he could try. He jumped towards the first mate and let the magic fill him to the brim. The weapon’s top changed into iron.

Remto didn’t do a thing to evade the incoming attack. He just stood there without even blinking. It was justified, of course. Ehrir quickly learned that after the pike broke upon meeting the shining membrane surrounding the man.

“Oh… Raw Manipulation? That’s good and all, but it’s pretty weak, kid. You can’t hope that this can do damage to me.” The first mate’s voice had a bit of irony to it. He smiled yet again and balls of flames started forming in both of his palms. “I may not be as powerful as my good ol’ captain when it comes to destroying things, but this… This can definitely burn you to a crisp.”

Ehrir swallowed. He couldn’t think of a way to defeat Remto nor was he able to run away from the sorcerer. Nalia was trying her best – he saw her struggling earlier – to overpower the first mate’s soul, but it was useless. Sevrian was desperately fighting with Hildos – or defending himself against the captain, rather – so he wasn’t able to come and aid them. So the only person who could help them was…

Just as Ehrir thought that a big wave of flames exploded in front of him, hiding Remto from sight. A moment later Varhel landed on the deck heavily. His arms had taken normal form now and there was bone-chilling, furious expression on his face.

“You dare try to get near my sister?! You’ll die for that, pig!” He shouted as new flames emerged from his body. His powers were really something else. He was far above Ehrir and his sheer force was surpassing even his sister’s.

But out of the flaming deck in front of them came out Remto. Unscathed. Varhel’s attacks hadn’t done anything to him, although his shield looked darker and thinner than before.

“Now it’s my turn, youngsters”, he said mockingly. And then from his palms all hell broke loose.

Ehrir could only watch as Varhel and the first mate began an uneven duel. Soon a good part of the deckhouse had burned to ashes, revealing Sevrian’s cabin beneath. And still the two exchanged mighty attacks that nullified each other, although Remto clearly had the advantage of might, experience and, most importantly, defense. There was no way the young man could win by himself.

The Undone One remembered Nalia’s words. “The three of us will have to attack together to have a chance against him”, she said. He looked at the young woman and met her eyes. She nodded as if thinking the same, then made him a sign to come nearer.

“We have to step in! There’s no other way if we want to win against this sorcerer!” Nalia yelled as Ehrir approached. She had a worried expression and her voice trembled slightly.

“Agreed!” The warmth helped Ehrir push the fear to the back of his mind. “Just tell me what to do. I can’t help much… But I’ll try!”

Nalia exchanged few sentences with the Undone One. He could only nod and try his hardest to memorize them in the surrounding chaos. After receiving the information he turned around and headed towards the battling mages. On the way there he used Manipulation to create a long spear-like weapon, entirely made out of solid steel.

When Ehrir got close enough he started shouting.

“Varhel… Just break his shield! Leave the rest to Nalia and me!”

The young man looked at him for a split second. His gaze was cold and prideful.

“I can do it alone! I can kill him! You’ll be hurt if you get closer… Have faith in me!” He answered after a moment without stopping his endless attacks towards Remto.

“Varhel, please! Just listen to me and Ehrir! You’ll die because of this stupid pride!” Nalia’s voice sounded from behind. It was empowered with magic and it couldn’t reach Sevrian’s loudness, but Varhel heard it and stopped his attacks for a brief bit. And then he just nodded.

Suddenly his blows redirected straight to the first mate’s shield. It quickly darkened and started fading away while covered in cracks. But in return Varhel received few burns on his chest and arms. The young man completely ignored them. Only a slight smile appeared on his face when the shield finally broke down. At this instant the young man jumped back to his sister’s position. He wasn’t looking good – bruised, bloodied and burned. But there was no pain in his eyes.

At the moment Remto’s defense fell down Nalia bombarded him with quick, concentrated strands of Conquering magic. It was well timed as in this exact moment the first mate was in his most disoriented and weakened state. The Conquering shook him and he started bleeding from his nose and mouth. His already pale face became snow-white.

It was time for Ehrir to attack. He took an attacking pose and threw the steel spear with all his might. It went straight towards Remto’s head. But it wasn’t enough.

The sorcerer caught it mid-air with some form of inhuman reflex.

“Heh, heh, heh… I’m not an easy target, ya’ hear… Wait… What… What did ya’ do to me?” Remto’s eyes widened as he looked down and saw another spear sunken in his stomach. The blood was already gushing out, painting his shirt red.

Ehrir looked at him with disgust written all over his face.

“Well, Nalia, you were right… He was disoriented enough to not sense the second spear.”

While Varhel was dealing with Remto’s shield, Ehrir created one more weapon and later threw it right after the first one. The trajectories of the two roughly matched and the pirate didn’t have to chance to sense it. It was Nalia’s idea and it worked just fine.

“Well… Good job, kids. We may meet in hell one day.” Remto smiled for one final time and fell to the ground. Soon his eyes became glassy and shining. Dead.

Varhel, Nalia and Ehrir looked at each other.

“Well, I guess we did a good job…” finally said Varhel. “But we need to help our master.”

He was right. Near them – too near, in fact – Sevrian and Hildos still were still battling. And things weren’t going well for the old man.